Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The band wanted to expand on the commercial success of their eponymous 1975 album, but struggled with relationship breakups before recording started. The Rumours studio sessions were marked by hedonism and strife among band members that shaped the album’s lyrics.
Recorded with the intention of making “a pop album”, the album’s music featured a pop rock and soft rock sound characterized by accented rhythms and electric keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes or Hammond B3 organ. The members partied and used cocaine for much of the recording sessions, and its completion was delayed by its mixing process, but was finished by the end of 1976. Following the album’s release, Fleetwood Mac undertook worldwide promotional tours. Rumours reached the top of both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, and became the band’s most successful release. The songs “Go Your Own Way“, “Dreams“, “Don’t Stop“, and “You Make Loving Fun” were released as singles, all of which reached the US top 10.
Rumours garnered widespread acclaim from critics, with praise centred on its production quality and harmonies, which frequently relied on the interplay among three vocalists and has inspired the work of musical acts in different genres. It won Album of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards. It has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has received Diamond certifications in several countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Often considered Fleetwood Mac’s best release, the album has featured in several publications’ lists of the best albums of the 1970s and of all time. In 2004, Rumours was remastered and reissued with the addition of “Silver Springs“, which had been excluded from the original due to tension within the band, and a bonus CD of outtakes from the recording sessions. In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[1] In 2006, Time named it in its All-TIME 100 Albums list. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry, being deemed “culturally, historically, or artistically significant” by the Library of Congress.[2]
